CONTROL OF HIGHWAYS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 106, 29 January 1929, Page 14

CONTROL OF HIGHWAYS

SEPARATE BOARD FOR THE SOUTH NOT FAVOURED BY ■ MINISTER Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, January 28. A deputation representing the South Island Motor Union was this morning told by the Minister of Public Works (Hou. E. A. Ransom) that he would not support the formation of a separate highways board for the South Island. Mr. 11. C. Harley, president, said there was a special reason for a South Island board at present. The Highways Board included only one representative of the South Island. People who were in touch only with the North Island were somewhat at a loss as regards the South Island roads and South Island conditions. So far, the agitations of the union had met with no result, and they felt that they had been ignored. He hoped, however, the new Minister would realise that there )vas a sound reason for the request. The North Island reading system was a long way in advance of the South Island. The board met in the North Island. Occasionally it had done "a gallop through" the South Island, but that was not sufficient to give them a real grip of the position in this Island. The petrol tax was an increasing quantity, and it was reasonable for the motorists to look for road improvement.

Mr. F. W. Johnston said that the mental outlook in the South was altogether different from" that in the North. There were hundreds of thousands of pounds that should have been taken up by southern counties that had not been taken up. As a result, certain of those funds were transferred on loan to the construction account. That proved the breakdown of the one board system. The South Island felt that it had not had fair treatment. The conditions that .applied In the North Island would not succeed in the South Island.

Mr. F. W. Freeman, president of the Canterbury Automobile Association, said that matters in the South Island were in a very lop-sided condition. Since the main highways declaration the South Island had received 47 per cent, less than Its proportion. The South Island motorists were entitled to the road improvements that they paid for. Tlie money that was raised in the South should be spent in the South.

The Minister, in reply, said he would say at the outset that a proposal to set up a separate board for the South Island would not have his support. He would not support anything that would make a distinction between one part of New Zealand and another. The matter of highways should be approached in a New Zealand sense, and not a parochial or Island sense. He considered that the separation of the two Islands in respect to highways would be a very retrogressive step. To set up a new board would mean spending on the constitution of that board money that should be spent on the highways. The fact that there was an unexpended balance in the high-, ways account, was, he thought, a favourable sign. It had been pointed out that the South Island had only one representativ on the Highways Board, but. that did not mean that South Island problems were not understood. Three of the Government men on the board were South Island men. Surely that should be some assurance to the South Island that its requirements were not being overlooked. The roads that he had traversed in the South Island were better than the average roads In the North Island. The North Island bodies had taken full advantage of the Highways Board, while the southern bodies had not. It was not the Highways Board that was standing In the way' of improvement in the South. It was the southern local bodies. On no occasion had an application by a South Island county been turned down by the Highways Board. The South Island bodies were getting all that they asked for' now. He could not see that the South would be any better served by two boards. It would be a different matter if it could be shown that the South Island was not getting fair treatment. He assured the members of the deputation that he was with them in their desire for better roads. Mr. F. W, Furkert said that in proportion to,the amounts found the contributions of the Highways Board in the South had been five to one, as against two to one In the North Island, The South Island had actually had better treatment than the North. He suggested that the motor organisations should bring pressure to bear on their own counties. Mr. Freeman: The Highways Board should take over the whole of the main roads in the South Island.